{"id":1035889,"date":"2026-08-31T23:59:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T23:59:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1035889\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T23:59:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T23:59:22","slug":"no-playoffs-but-the-portland-fire-have-something-to-build-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1035889\/","title":{"rendered":"No playoffs, but the Portland Fire have something to build on"},"content":{"rendered":"

They didn\u2019t make the playoffs, but that doesn\u2019t mean the Portland Fire haven\u2019t had a successful season.<\/p>\n

The Fire are 16-24, in ninth place in the standings, with four games remaining. Portland was formally eliminated from the playoffs last Tuesday with a loss to the Dallas Wings. \u00a0<\/p>\n

But the metrics for success, at least in the Fire\u2019s case, were not about wins and losses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe two things we said we had to get right, we had to get it right for the fans, and we had to get it right for the players and the athletes,\u201d Fire president Clare Hamill said. \u201cAnd so, I\u2019m really super happy to say those two things are the things that are just \u2014 there\u2019s lots of great things that have happened, but those are the best pieces of it for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Disrupting the status quo<\/p>\n

Before their first game, the Fire were ambitious disruptors, hiring Vanja \u010cernivec away from the Valkyries then bringing on coach Alex Sarama, who practices a training method <\/a>called Constraints-Led Approach, or CLA, which challenges players with creative problem solving rather than repetitive drills.<\/p>\n

The team assembled a roster of players that fit Sarama\u2019s vision, headlined by expansion draft acquisition <\/a>Bridget Carleton<\/a>, who was known for her versatility while with the Minnesota Lynx. Center Megan DiLeo<\/a>, who had bounced around the WNBA, finally found a home and became a fan favorite with her corgi, Pancake.<\/p>\n

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Sarah Ashlee Barker<\/a>, picked up in the expansion draft, averaged 3.1 points and 1.9 rebounds with the Sparks last season before she was picked up by the Fire in the expansion draft. Barker averaged 10.7 and 4.5 points for Portland and enjoyed chats of \u201cS-A-B!\u201d from the Moda Center fans before she tore her ACL in July and was out for the season.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that when I first interviewed Vania, I immediately felt this this passion and this vision for what could happen with a team in Portland. It\u2019s almost like I immediately began to believe in her,\u201d Hamill said. \u201cThen as I watched the coaches come together and the system that Alex was putting in place, and then the amazing players that we got in the expansion draft. I\u2019m not that surprised that we are winning like we are, and mostly I\u2019m not that surprised that we\u2019re playing like we are. It\u2019s more than just winning. It\u2019s how we\u2019re playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recalling the past<\/p>\n

The team smartly harkened back to their Portland roots with the Fire nickname, and hyped the connection with a \u201cFire Reignited\u201d theme for the opener.<\/p>\n

That connection with the fan base was key. The Fire average about 14,400 fans per game, fourth in the league.<\/p>\n

\"\"Aug 6, 2026; Portland, Oregon, USA; Portland Fire head coach Alex Sarama encourages players during the second half in a game against the Toronto Tempo at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

But it was more than that \u2014 the Fire also took advantage of its ownership connection with the Portland Thorns. The two teams had a double-header this season: $50 for a pair of tickets to a Thorns\u2019 match followed by a Fire game. Thorns players frequently turn up at Fire games, and Fire players return the favor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There was also a players-first mentality. The Fire also moved into its purpose-built $150 million performance center <\/a>that they share with the Thorns.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a fan, I followed the Valkyries last year, but when you create an expansion team, it is special, and I think what Vania has done with her staff, and what we\u2019ve done with the players is special, and I just feel thrilled for Portland and for everybody that yes, we\u2019re winning, but mostly just how we\u2019re playing and who we are. It just feels like an incredible delivery for the first year.\u201d Hamill said.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead<\/p>\n

The Fire have already started looking ahead to next season. During Sunday\u2019s loss to the Valkyries, Sarama experimented with a zone defense. He could try more new things, especially on defense, in the final four games.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel very good about where we\u2019re at as an offense, and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s really overhauls next year, I think it\u2019s more some subtle tweaks, kind of around the edges. I think defensively, I like the identity. I like how we got actions, you know, pick-and-roll defense is really good,\u201d Sarama said. \u201cIt\u2019s really all our one-on-one defense that we need a deep dive on, and we got to find solutions. We\u2019ve got to find solutions to help the group. If we\u2019re not able to continue staying in front, we\u2019ve got to find things we can do because that\u2019s that\u2019s preventing us right now from taking that jump to to get in the playoffs. I think that\u2019s what was the reason for us not making it this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

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\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They didn\u2019t make the playoffs, but that doesn\u2019t mean the Portland Fire haven\u2019t had a successful season. The…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1035890,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[49],"tags":[175483,27273,60095,388198,60094,115167,62,67,132,68,414499,232],"class_list":["post-1035889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-alex-sarama","tag-bridget-carleton","tag-clare-hamill","tag-megan-dileo","tag-portland-fire","tag-sarah-ashlee-barker","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-vanja-cernivec","tag-wnba"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1035889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1035889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1035889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1035890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1035889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1035889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1035889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}